Foreign experts laud the future of humanoid robots, confident of China’s robot industry growth prospects at Beijing forum

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By Li Xundian, Tu Lei (Global Times) 10:02, April 01, 2025

The event attracted experts and scholars from all over the world to jointly explore the vast possibilities of humanoid robots in the future.

"I have been paying attention to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) recently. I think robotics and AI are closely linked," Paolo Dario, chief scientist at the Italian National Competence Center for Robotics ARTES 4.0, told the Global Times.

He explained that machine learning can collect data, and AI makes it usable. The fusion of the two technologies has become a truly intelligent robot. In the past few years, the development of robots has been slow, and there has been incredible progress after the introduction of AI, "so I think the fusion of the two is successful and is developing rapidly," he said.

Improvements in perception and interaction technology enable robots to better understand and adapt to the environment.

With the help of advanced sensors such as high-resolution cameras, lidar, and tactile sensors, humanoid robots can perceive the world around them in real time. AI algorithms help process the data, enabling natural communication with humans.

In manufacturing, humanoid robots can effectively improve production efficiency and flexibility through precise trajectory planning and motion control capability. Through the application of algorithm processing technology and big data, the development of humanoid robots has achieved significant efficiency improvement, Kim JongMoon, chief representative of Korea Innovation Center in China (KIC China) told the Global Times in a recent interview.

"If robots are to become part of daily life, we need to integrate and upgrade humanoid robots through AI," said Lee DongJun, professor from Seoul National University Future Mobile Technology Center.

Today's intelligent robots can carry out sophisticated tasks. For example, a robotic arm can accurately grasp a smooth plate and put it in a designated position. Although it looks simple, it is difficult for machine operation, but now it has been realized, he noted.

Localization of the robotics industry

The rapid advancement of AI has unlocked significant potential for the humanoid robot market.

China has issued guidelines for the development of humanoid robots with strategic plans set for 2025 and 2027. The guidance, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), aims to establish a preliminary innovation system for humanoid robots by 2025, and achieve breakthroughs in key technologies like the "brain, cerebellum and limbs" of robots.

"As the editor-in-chief of an international scientific journal, I receive papers from all over the world every day. The number of papers submitted by Chinese researchers is increasing dramatically, and the quality is improving significantly too," said Dario. He added that he has cooperated with China since 1983 and witnessed China's "impressive" progress in robotics and related fields.

"I have seen China's continuous improvement in the quality of scientific and technological results in the past few years. I believe that China is currently one of the world-class leaders in the field of robotics, with my understanding of AI robots," he added.

China's Deepseek has gained worldwide popularity, and China's AI technology has reached the world's leading level and has strong competitiveness, said Lee Jinsoo, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

Looking at China's robotics industry and government policies, he said that South Korea can learn a lot from it. The dancing robots at the Chinese Spring Festival Gala brought great shock and repercussions to the world, he said.

In recent years, China's robotics industry has emerged as a global technology leader. From manufacturing to services, healthcare to home applications, Chinese robots have made notable progress. In industrial manufacturing, robots now operate efficiently on production lines in sectors like automotive and electronics, and accurately complete complex tasks such as welding and assembly, greatly improving production efficiency and product quality. In the service industry, food delivery robots, welcoming robots, and surgical assistance robots also did impressively well.